Bray Emmets 2-16 Glenealy 2-08
Bray Emmets became only the third ever team to win four hurling titles in a row in Wicklow after a belter of a Lightning Protection Ireland Senior hurling final replay in Aughrim on Saturday.
A storming second-half performance that saw them outscore the proud men of Glenealy by 1-08 to 1-05 having taken a five-point lead into half-time allowed Marc Lennon to become the first ever hurling captain to lift four O'Donoghue Cups in a row on what was a historic day for himself and the Bray Emmets club.
A sense of righting wrongs from the drawn final was what emanated from the opening half although there was no shaking the Glenealy men thanks to a sweet goal from Jonathan O’Neill after 15 minutes in reply to an earlier major from Bray’s Eoin McCormack.
But all doubts about the destination of the O’Donoghue Cup were quietened when Christy Moorehouse spun his marker, rampaged down on Cian Staunton’s goal and lashed home with 18 gone in the second half to make it 2-13 to 1-6.
Powerful performances from Padraig Doyle, who would be presented with the man of the match award, Christy Moorehouse, John Henderson, Eoin McCormack and Marc Lennon to name but a few meant that despite them throwing everything they had at the Bray defence, there was no way back for Glenealy.
A heavy shower of rain moments before the parade suggested that this was going to be something of a dogfight and that’s exactly how the first half turned out, with Bray Emmets trying to build a lead with the wind at their backs and Glenealy looking to hit stinging replies on the counter.
It was Bray who hit the ground running with a Mikey Boland point from play and a wicked Eoin McCormack goal inside the first five minutes with Glenealy registering a wide in the same time.
Paul Carley’s men hit six wides in that opening half but opened up a 1-3 to 0-0 lead by the end of the first quarter with a superb John Henderson point followed by a Christy Moorehouse free.
But Glenealy got a massive score in the context of the game when Jonathan O’Neill got on the end of a Matthew Traynor free from deep and lashed home to the bottom corner of Peter O’Reilly’s net.
The action, while untidy at times, was frenetic, the hits hard and the efforts to be applauded from both sets of players in energy-sucking conditions.
It would be 23 minutes into the first half when Glenealy registered their first white flag of the game, that from a Gavin Weir free but Bray were leading 1-5 to 1-1 at that point thanks to two Moorehouse points (one free).
The Bray star fired over a monster free from his own 65 to push the lead out to five but Weir struck back with his own humongous effort after a foul on Danny Staunton.
A peach from Moorehouse after great work from the outstanding Arran Murphy was answered by a class Gavin Weir score after he plucked the ball from the sky at the Rednagh Hill end, and the sides retired with Bray up by five with but the wind favouring the Reds in the second half.
But that wind would count for nothing as Moorehouse, Mikey Boland, Padraig Doyle, Moorehouse again and again opened up a 1-13 to 1-6 lead with the maestro's beautiful goal the final nail in the Glenealy coffin.
Bray have equaled the great teams of Carnew (1978, '79, '80 and '81) and Glenealy (2010, '11, '12, '13) by winning the four-in-a-row. Few would bet against them to go on and drive for five in 2023.
Bray Emmets: P O’Reilly; B Kearney, K Lacey, S Maloney; C Lohan, P Doyle (0-01), J Henderson (0-01); D Masterson (0-01), L Maloney; M Lennon, A Murphy, E McCormack (1-01); B McCormack, C Moorehouse (1-10, 0-04f), M Boland (0-02). Subs: D Maloney for B McCormack (37), R McMahon for C Lohan (49), C Ó Dulacháin for M Boland (57), J Anders for L Maloney (57).
Glenealy: C Staunton; J Driver, W Kavanagh, P O’Brien; M Traynor, G Byrne, S O’Dowd; R Byrne, R Manley; G Weir (1-05, 1-00f, 0-04f), D Staunton (0-03), T Doyle; J O’Neill (1-00), A Driver, J Byrne. Subs: J Kavanagh for P O’Brien (51), D Henderson for A Murphy (52), J Manley for J Byrne (56), A Conyard for A Driver (57).
Referee: M Molloy (Annacurra).
